Alex and Talia arrived back in the orphanage with the twenty kids that they had rescued. Not all of these kids were from the orphanage in Greenheart City, but that was where they decided to take them anyway.
The 3 that were from there immediately hugged the guardians that they had missed so much and started crying, telling them about what had happened to them, what they had seen.
Dead bodies, flayed skin, bloody sheets, muscles cut open, bones pulled out. The kids were made to face horrors while inside that room that they were only now talking about.
Alex frowned when he heard their recollection of what they saw. He had seen those horrors way more vividly than them, but these were kids. They shouldn't be seeing things like this.
"I have a recipe for a pill known as the Memory Erasing pill which can help remove their recent memories," he said. "I don't have them made, but I should be able to cook up a few as long as we have ingredients."
"Pill that erases memory? Does it work?" Talia asked.
"I haven't tried it yet, actually. It was a recipe I found in my treasury, that I just forgot about since I didn't really need it," he said. "Also, it's a True pill, so it won't work on us, but it should work fine on the kids."
"What if they lose too much of their memory?" Talia asked.
"Even if they do, that is much better than them remembering everything, don't you think?" Alex asked.
Talia couldn't argue. "What are the ingredients? Let me see if I have some," she said.
"I have most," Alex said. "I… let's see… I need a Brighthorn Deer's antler powder, and some Wildsoot grass leaves."
"I have Wildsoot grass from the last time I went to the Hundred Blossom Valley. But not the powder," she said. "Hmm… maybe His Majesty has it."
"King Jin? I'll go ask him then," Alex said.
"Let me come with you."
The two left the orphanage after telling the guardians there what their plan was.
Going back to the palace took no time at all, as they hurried there. As soon as they reached, elder Yao and Liang quickly came out to meet Alex, but he kept them from speaking since he was in a hurry.
The King had already arrived, but he made no remarks seeing Alex and Talia together. He had received the news regarding the Frosted Glacier sect, so he was very serious at the moment.
"Did you come back from the sect?" the king asked.
"Yes," Alex said. "Actually, I need some Brighthorn Deer's antler powder. Do you have any? I need it to make some pills for the kids."
"I'll have some brought to you right away," the King said. "Let me show you to the alchemy rooms."
Alex nodded and went along with the King to his alchemy rooms, which were just as fancy as the ones that Alex used back in the Swan courtyard. He walked inside and brought out 5 different cauldrons from inside his storage bag, placing them in five different locations where the fire could burn.
The King looked at it all a little weirdly, wondering if Alex was planning to use all those cauldrons at once.
"How many pills do you need, your majesty?" the King asked.
"20," Alex said.
Someone arrived with the antler powder, and the king gave the entirety to Alex. "Use as much as is required, your majesty," he said. "What other ingredients do you require?"
"None," Alex replied. "Can I get some privacy? I will begin now."
"Yes, of course."
The king quickly walked out, shutting the door behind him. Now that Alex was all alone, he brought out Whisker and gave a portion of the ingredients to him. "4 pills at once, okay?" he asked.
"I will," Whisker answered and took the ingredients to one of the cauldrons on the side.
Alex stuck to his side with 4 different cauldrons, in all of which he was going to make 4 pills each. Since the pill he needed was a True pill, he could easily control it at his level, and since reaching 100% did nothing for True pills, there was no point to try his hardest either. Just being the most efficient was enough in his eyes.
The first pile of ingredients came out, splitting into 16 different sections under Alex's spiritual sense as they all fell into the now-heated cauldron. Splitting his attention into 16 different individual sections, plus all the other attention that was required when making a pill certainly made it difficult, but given how easy it was to make True pills and the fact that he was making the same pill 16 times, it gave his mind a bit of room to relax.
He started turning the ingredients into a powder and then moved on to the 2nd ingredient. It didn't take long before all the ingredients were inside the cauldron, turning into powder.
Once he was done, he used broke the pile of powder into 4 specific sections simply based on feeling, on each of the 4 cauldrons. Then, one by one, he used his Vortex of Perfection technique on all of the different piles to create the best pill he could out of what he had ended up making up.
By the time he was finished, Whisker was still working on the 4 pills, which had just been powdered. Since he couldn't use the technique, Alex had to do it for him.
Once they were done, Alex walked out of the room with the 20 different pills ready in just under 10 minutes. King Jin and Talia were surprised to see him walk out so soon.
"Do you need something?" the king asked.
"More Wildsoot grass, your majesty?" Talia asked.
"What? No, I'm done," Alex said. "Let's go feed the kids."
They didn't believe Alex at all, but seeing him leave, they couldn't help but follow him. Soon, the three of them, including King Jin arrived at the orphanage where the kids were getting taken care of.
"Will the pills work?" Talia asked.
"Well, they will remove memories, I know that for sure. It's just a matter of how far back they work," Alex said and fed the first child. They waited for the pill to take effect and asked the child how old he was.
The young boy thought he was 12.
That was 2 years more than they wanted, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Alex needed some experimentation if he wanted to make it more precise.
"That is enough," he said and fed the other kids the pills. Soon, all 20 of the kids had eaten the pill and had lost between 2 and 4 years' worth of their recent memories.
"Let the kids rest now," Alex said and walked away from them to let the guardians handle it.
"Thank you, your majesty," Talia said.
"It's not a problem. In fact, I am obligated to help when I can," he said. "What sort of person would I be if I just sat behind and let them be in pain."
Talia couldn't help but smile when she heard that.
"You are truly amazing, your majesty."
